As most of us get ready to take days off during the holiday season, we often forget that hackers don’t take days off. The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, is a day that we try to get the best deals for the holiday season. Similarly, hackers will be increasing their own efforts to steal our personal information in the coming weeks. Below are a few things that will help keep your information safe as you begin your Black Friday shopping.
Phishing attacks are ever present and an easy way for hackers to gain access to your personal information. A phishing attack may come in the form of an email that looks innocuous and familiar. Unless you are completely sure that you can verify the source of an email, don’t open it and definitely don’t click any links in the email. If it is a phishing email, the links can grant hackers access to your personal information.
Just as you wouldn’t share your personal information unwillingly, we also recommend that you don’t share your personal information willy-nilly either. You should never have to share more than your name, address, and phone number when shopping online.
Not only should you be careful with what type of information you share, you should be careful where you share your information. If you are shopping online, you should make sure that the website you are shopping on is secure. Look for the “https:” rather than just “http:”. That “s” is very important when it comes to the security of your information. “S” stands for secure, this means the website is encrypted and your information is safe.
Lastly, make sure your home internet connection is safe and secure. It might be a good time to reset your router password and strengthen firewall settings on all your devices.
Be hesitant about sharing information this holiday season but remember that there is no way that you can completely prevent data breach and identity theft; you can only make yourself a smaller target through your online shopping habits.
The bottom line is that there’s really no better time than the present to become a LibertyID member for identity theft restoration protection. LibertyID provides expert, full service, fully managed identity theft restoration to individuals, couples, extended families* and businesses. LibertyID has a 100% success rate in resolving all forms of identity fraud on behalf of our subscribers.
*Extended families – primary individual, their spouse/partner, both sets of parents (including those that have been deceased for up to a year), and all children under the age of 25